Pregnant Meghan Markle UPS royal engagements as due date draws closer

PREGNANT Meghan Markle unflinchingly continues to take on an increasing number of royal engagements as her due date draws ever closer for the birth of her first child with Prince Harry.

With the 37-year-old’s first baby due in April and yet another outing scheduled for next week, the American shows no signs of slowing down as she packs as much not her busy schedule as possible. On Thursday she visited the Smart Works charity in London where the mother-to-be beamed while picking out second-hand clothing for women to help them get back into work. For the much-anticipated stop-in, she wore a stunning £2,600 Oscar De La Renta coat she teamed with a £170 dress by Hatch. She also brought along her signature handbag – a £1,695 vanity box tote by British designer and ex-Spice Girl Victoria Beckham.

The appearance was announced hours beforehand.

Meghan Markle unflinchingly continues to take on an increasing number of royal engagements Image GETTY

In just two days time stylish Meghan, a former actress in the cable television programme Suits, will delight royal fans by making her first joint appearance with Prince Harry in Merseyside.

Following this, she will also watch Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday.

Her flurry of commitments come after Vanity Fair reported the duchess asked her aides to “fill her diary right up to her due date” and that she plans to carry out even more engagements over the next few months.

But they also follow news her half-brother Thomas Markle Jnr was arrested for drink driving in the family’s native US.

The 52-year-old’s blood alcohol level was 0.11 percent above the 0.08 percent legal limit when he was pulled over in Oregon, northwest America, last night.

Vanity Fair reported the duchess asked her aides to “fill her diary right up to her due date” Image GETTY

He has been taken to a detox centre, police confirmed this morning.

His arrest comes days after he invited the duchess to his wedding, despite Meghan not inviting him to her own royal nuptials last May.

Thomas Markle Jnr wrote an open letter to Prince Harry pleading with the 34-year-old royal to call off the wedding to Meghan.

He told the prince his marriage to Meghan would be the “biggest mistake in royal wedding history”.

This was ignored and the couple tied the knot at a lavish Windsor ceremony attended by an array of A-list celebs including George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey and Serena Williams to name a few.

Just before Christmas, the siblings’ father, Thomas Markle Snr, told Good Morning Britain he sends text messages to his daughter Meghan every day but she does not reply.